Old Polish Traditions in the Kitchen and at the Table (Hippocrene International Cookbook Series)

"Old Polish Traditions" is a good place to start learning about Polish food and customs. The book has good, short, sections devoted to Polish customs and traditions. And, it has good recipes for a number of Polish foods, especially finer food. This is not a long book and there are many, many, Polish food recipes. However, it is a good place to start learning. Read through the book and its recipes. Start with something simple, such as a mushroom soup. However, many of these recipes can be difficult and/or time-consuming. For instance, Bigos is a hunters stew, usually started with saurkraut and two or more types of meat and is rarely ready to eat in less than three days. Some of the recipes can be daunting, such as stuffed roast pig. Some of the dishes take time, labor, and much practice to achieve really good results. Paczki (doughnuts) and Pierogi are among this class. Some of the Polish dishes are not simple. For instance, I can make a white borsht in less than two hours, but a proper and better tasting white borsht takes four hours of work, spread over three or four days. So, for a while, stick to the easiest recipes. If you like some of those, perhaps you should buy a cookbook with more Polish recipes to continue building your skills. Then, come back and start working on some of the more difficult recipes. Simple recipes include: Dry-Roasted Buckwheat, Barley soup (Krupnik), Roast Beef Roll with Mushrooms, red-beet salad with horseradish, and date mazurek.

This cookbook is a true tribute to Polish cooking, presenting the culinary history of Poland, Polish cooking-related legends and a variety of tasty recipes. There are literally dozens of recipes celebrating the diversity of cabbage, kasha and mushrooms in Polish cooking. The cookbook also has recipes organized around the holidays, with chapters entitled "Christmas" and "Easter". Each is filled with delectable dishes ranging from appetizers to main courses to desserts. Hubby and I had a party making pierogi..........every variety presented in this cookbook: potato, sauerkraut, cheese, meat, kasha, and even fruit! Also delicious was the Cabbage with Mushrooms and Nut Croquettes. Great for dessert is the Old Polish Royal Mazurek. In short, this cookbook is really helping me get in touch with my Polish roots!I do have a few criticisms though. For one, I have found errors in some recipes. Secondly, ingredients required for a given dish are not clearly laid out before each recipe, making it inconvenient because one must read through the whole recipe when making a shopping list. Also, sometimes instructions are vague. I've made one recipe that instructed cooks to "bake in a hot oven until done". Thus, beginners might have a tough time with this cookbook. Overall, I recommend this cookbook to seasoned cooks who are eager to learn about Polish cooking. Newcomers to the kitchen should probably use a different cookbook.

Not many people realize how *fine* is Polish cooking - and how sophisticated are traditional Polish dishes. This book dispels many myths - for example, it is NOT the kielbasa, cabbage rolls and pierogi what is the best and most celebrated food in Poland. This is more than a cookbook - it is a wonderful history book filled with an amazing mix of culinary facts written in very entertaining style. Authors Maria Lemnis and Henry Vitry are very well known Polish food columnists (as celebrated as Julia Child is in the US). They are brilliant writers who understand Polish food better than any other cook book writer.It is a pure delight. Definitely the best book on Polish food in English language. Written for people who can appreciate a good story, fine writing and good food. It has not as many recipes as other cookbooks mentioned here, perhaps 50 recipes or so. But it is the quality of recipes that counts.This book should be staple in every household aspiring to cook a Polish dish now and then - it is carefully edited and illustrated and makes also a PERFECT gift!

I rather liked this book for two reasons. 1) The way it is organized and 2) the fact that it is not a rehash of how to cook kielbasy and pirogi. (In fact there is only one kielbasy recipe lsited.) - The author(s) describe a period in Polish history, all of which is very informative, and then give you recipes for the foods that were prominent at that time. As a result, you don't get the standard list of Polish recipes, but rather a unique package of traditional food, going way back. A very nice arrangement and very nice recipes. Easy to read (very interesting) and printed very nicely, and it makes you hungry just reading it. Also note: since it goes back in history, it does ALSO contain those special Lithuanian dishes.